Submitted by SHABDA - Preceptor on
Prostitution - Hazrat Inayat Khan
1.
The world looks with contempt on the woman of the street,
as a web of evil thatthat drags men's lives to ruin;as a being
who's conduct cannot be honourable; as one scarcely worthy of
being spoken of.But she gives a welcome to many a one who is
quite destitute, or so low or so disagreeable that he could
find no other refuge, if refused one by her. The drunken and
dissapated men, blind with animal passion; men travelling;stra-
ngers in a town and lonely; men who, most strange of all, were
advised by a physician to have intercourse with a woman, find
a welcome at her door. She is a victim of so much evil of the
world; she is a martyr, crushed by the refuse of the world. She
is, as it were, a human cesspool of the dirt and degradation of
society.
Things appear good or bad to the individual according to his
own standard, formed usually on his own experiences, good or bad,
of life. But it is possible to leave aside one's own standard,
- except as a means by which to judge one's self, - and to search
for the hidden cause of results. If a man does this, he will find
innumerable customs existing for material profit, that are not
called prostitution, although there really is no other name for
them. From the earliest times man has bought and sold all things
that he needed, and he seldom considers the real value of what he
buys, but he fixes a price by the degree of his needs, and by his
difficulty in satisfying it. For instance, he has seen in wealthy
European cities, the work-day of workmen and even of children sold
for nothing, so that the misery of their conditions cried aloud;
and again, at another time they recieved a wage, for the same work,
that enabled them to lift their heads with some of the dignity a
that human kind should show; or again, in the other extreme, chil-
dren have been paid a wage that could have supported a whole family.
And these differences in money paid for the same working lives depend-
ed on no other fact than the supply of hands in the world of industry.
Thus most unnatural customs appear natural to man, who still prides
himself with the thought that mankind is ever evolving, and that
the latest phase of civilization is the best from all points of
view.
And however unnatural it may seem to man, it should be a natural
law to him that the least price he can give a woman in exchange for
herself, is his heart; even when he offers to conract marriage with
her. If a woman, out of her poverty, willingly sells him her body for
money,it is a shame to him if he does not suffice her necessity and
help her from principle, and not only from lust.
2.
Harem-zada -- son of a harem -- is the lowest word of contempt
in the East; its English equivalent could not be printed in an Eng-
lish book. No Eastern lady of position in society, nor any respectable
Eastern woman would ever visit a harem; an institution that exists
for the pleasure of one rich man, just as in the West, a certain type
of chorus girl in theatres or cafes exist for the pleasure of the many.
East and West, women show the same unrelenting attitude of sternness to-
wards the prostitute; and one reason is that in all countries women are
the main upholders of religion, and no great religion has ever permitted
prostitution. But the chief reason of this sternness is undoubtedly the
truth, unconsciously known to everyone, that although the human being
who has never had an ideal is to be pitied, that one who has had an ideal
and has allowed the circumstances of life to break it, has herself thrown
away her Soul.And it is hard for any woman to tolerate the thought that
any woman should be born without an ideal of womanhood.
" The prostitute, grown old, makes a business of her calling, and
the girls she has are her slaves " , says Sa'adi. Where slavery was
banished in its outward appearance in society,prostitution, which is
really a slave-business,simply changed hands. The expert prostitute is
really the center of this traffic; she not only brings up young girls tp
it, taking her share of the profits, but to her gravitate the ruined or
deserted women, who are too ashamed to go home, or perhaps have none to
go to. Before her they feel no shame; and with her welcome, unspoiled by
the reproaches of hard speech that the virtuous too often proffer with
their assistance, she gives kindness and sympathy and also practical help
and a means of subsistence.
Only in her springlike youth does the prostitute find anyone to care
for her; after that time has passed she often begins to live on the profits
of other women. Sometimes she herself is in the hands of a man who is the
real slave-owner of the business; and at other times she has her men agents
who help her to spread her trade for their own profit.
The customs of this trade, which is learned and taught like any other,
seem to vary little from country to country; although here and there one
finds reasons why it should be flourishing a little more, or a little less.
When one part of a community is considered entirely subject to another part,
or where one race is subject to another in the same country, this business
seems to increase. Also, military camps have always promoted it; the very
conditions of camp life must give scope to it.
Sometimes the human being finds himself in an occupation which works ag-
ainst his conscience; he follows it for the sake of his livelyhood only;it
satisfies him for a time, because it satisfies his material needs, but there
comes a moment in his development when he can bear his yoke no longer. And
many times, even in the lives of the most degraded, comes this moment, when
they feel that they must grow out of their surroundings, or break away at
all costs.
There was once an Indian woman, a singer, who led this degraded life of
the prostitute, but she had one quality; when others sang only to please the
rich, she would also sing to those who could not pay her. And this generosity
in her was the means of leading her to meet and see such Souls, as she would
have hardly otherwise seen in that profession. At last, the qualities of kind-
ness and charity of heart so developed in her that her voice became an inspir-
ation, and a source of upliftment to many devotional Souls. And thus she grew
away from her profession; and in the end became renowned for her piety through-
out India.
3.
The outlook of the great Teachers, who's teachings have changed the outlook
of life of millions and millions in the world, has always been alike in this;
they have never been willing to point out the fault in another,and to hurt the
faulty one. It was in their regard for the dignity of humanity, in their modesty
and service, that lay the beauty and greatness of their great lives.
The mystic voice of Amir has said, " Such beauty lies in Thy forgiveness,
that it seems to me that it would have been a sin in me if i had not sinned; for
then i should not have known Thy loving-kindness, and the wonder and beauty of
Thy true Nature and Being. "
Crime is natural. If crime were not natural from where would it come? All
men are subject to fault; their very virtues develop into faults. The great
Teacher has therefore taught patience, which means to be patient, and not to expect
patience. He has taught respect, which means to show respect, not to demand it.
He has taught unselfishness, which means to be unselfish, without expecting a reward.
The great Teacher has found his religion in his study of life, and has shown the
interdependence of human lives; and that what a man gives, that he recieves. He has
taught man to lift his light upon high, so that he may live in light; in that
light that is never extinguished in man, although usually kept under a covering of
cloud or a bushel of selfishness and greed, so that its owner lives in a darkened
room.
There comes a stage in the moral evolution of man when he percieves and under-
stands the moral of beneficence, and he learns to return good for evil. At this
stage in his progress he hears a chord that connects and runs through him and
through all. He finds himself as it were a dome, in which good and evil find re-
echoing tones. Evil done to him echoes within him a desire to do evil in return;
and good done to him re-echoes in him a desire to return good. Therefore, in order
that his own actions may in their turn call out nothing but good, he desires always
to do good; and to return both good for good, and good for evil.
But there is a higher stage to which he may progress; and then it seems to him,
that this connecting chord swells into a great sea; and he realizes that the inter-
dependence of lives is such, because the Spirit is One; and it is the Spirit that
unites, and the Spirit that gives life.
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